Richard ciioinanus



(No Model.) R. GHOINANUS.

HOLDER FOR PICTURES.

No. 368,994; Patented Aug.'30, 1887.

N IERS PllolmLflN-igrapher, Wuhmgicn. D. Cv

2o face.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD CHOINANUS, OF HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO HERMANOPPENHEIMER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND ABRAHAM BONNEM, OF

oBERsrEIN, GERMANY.

HOLDE-R FOR PICTURES.

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 368,994, dated August30, 1887.

Application filed April 11, 1887. Serial No. 234,541. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

- Be it known that I, RICHARD CHOINANUS,

I a subject of the Emperor of Germany, and a resident of Hoboken, in thecounty of Hud- 5 son and State of New Jersey, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Holders for Pictures, 820., of which thefollowing is such afull, clear, concise, and exact description as willenable others skilled inthe art to which my invention appertains to makeI cards, and the like have heretofore been made with a front and backpiece, the back piece being connected to the front in such a Way as toform a support or leg, so that the holder will stand upon a mantel orother flat sur- These holders have sometimes been more frames, andsometimes they have been skeleton like, being made of metal. In mostinstances, however, difficulties have been experienced, owing to a Wantof the proper ada 5 justability of the same to the pictures whichmoreover, when such holders have been made of metal they have beensomewhat costly, owing to the number of parts and amount of workrequired to manufacture them.

The object of my invention is to make a 3 5 simple, cheap, andadjustable picture-holder of wire or flexible metal; and the inventionconsists in the construction of the same, as hereinafter more fullydescribed and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective 0 view of a picture-holderconstructed according to the requirements of my invention, and Fig. 2 isa cross-section taken on the line 00 m of Fig. 1.

In order to make this holder, I take flexi- 5 ble metal, preferablywire, and form the front piece, A, with its hooks for holding thepicture, out of one piece of metal. This is done by bending the wire sothat the ends form hooks b b, which serve to support the lower end ofthe picture, and the bends or elbows of the hooks act as legs, uponwhich the frame A rests. After such bends are formed, or before, as maybe desirable, the wire is curved somewhat in the form, on the right-handside, of the letter S, after which it extends upward and is bent intothe form of a double hook, at, which then permits a continuation of thebending, so that a reverse S is made upon the left-hand side, and theend thereof forms a hook, I), as shown. This bending of the wire .givesit somewhat the form of rings, which impart elasticity to the holder, sothat it may be adjusted to the size of the picture, and the curvedportions act as wings, which support the back of the picture between theends-held by the hooks; but I prefer to solder the parts of the wirewhich come together between the upper springs and also between the lowersprings, in order to make the holder more firm and to retain its shape.

The back B may be formed of a single piece of wire having a U-shapedcollar, 0, to the back portion of which collar the support B is fastenedby soldering or otherwise, and a pin, 0, is secured to the wires whichform the frame A, such pin cbeing made to pass through the ears of thecollar 0, as shown, thus forming an axis or hinge for the back orsupport 13, which is thus free to swing out when it is desired to setthe holder upon a mantel or other base.

By making the front piece of asingle piece of metal, with springs, asdescribed, the'holder is elastic and may be lengthened or shortened, asdesired, the pictures being held by the hook a at the top and the hooksb b at the bottom. The cost of manufacture is cheapened by such way offorming the same. Of course the particular design shown may be variedaccording to fancy, but I have shown a simple form of for the back ofthe picture and to impart elasthe back of the picture, in combinationwith a ticity to said holder, substantially as set forth. support hingedor secured to said front piece, :0

2. A holder for pictures, consisting of a front substantially asdescribed.

piece of flexible metal, as Wire, the ends and 7 5 center whereof arebent into hooks adapted to RICHARD OHOINANUS' retain the picture, saidwire being also curved \Vitnesses: intermediate between said hooks, asin ring ARNO S. ROSENBAUM, forms, which are adapted to afford a rest forWILLIAM B. BOOKSTARER.

